was anciently spoken—‘A place showeth the man;' and it showeth some to the better and some to the worse: Omnium consensu, capax imperii, nisi imperasset,'* saith Tacitus of Galba; but of Vespasian he saith, Solus imperantium Vespasianus mutatus in melius:'† though the one was meant of sufficiency, the other of manners and affection. It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous spirit whom honour amends, for honour is or should be the place of virtue; and as in nature things move violently to their place, and calmly in their place, so virtue in ambition is violent, in authority settled and calm. All rising to great place is by a winding stair; and if there be factions, it is good to side a man's self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed. Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues, respect them, and rather call them when they look not for it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible, or too remembering of thy place in conversation and private answers to suitors; but let it rather be said, 'When he sits in place he is another man.' We will give also the whole of the Twelfth, entitled 'Of Boldness,' first published in 1625. It is a trivial grammar-school text, but yet worthy a wise man's consideration. Question was asked of Demosthenes, 'What was the chief part of an orator?" He answered, 'Action.' 'What next?' 'Action.' 'What next again?' 'Action.' He said it that knew it best, and had by nature himself no advantage in that he commended. A strange thing, that that part of an orator which is but superficial, and rather the virtue of a player, should be placed so high above those other noble parts of invention, elocution, and the rest; nay, almost alone, as if it were all in all. But the reason is plain. There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise, and therefore those faculties by which the foolish part of men's minds is taken are most potent. Wonderful like is the case of boldness in civil business. What first? Boldness. * He would have been universally deemed fit for empire, if he had never reigned. + Vespasian was the only emperor who was changed for the better by his accession, What second and third? Boldness. And yet boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior to other parts. But nevertheless it doth fascinate and bind hand and foot those that are either shallow in judgment or weak in courage, which are the greatest part, yea, and prevaileth with wise men at weak times. Therefore we see it hath done wonders in popular states, but with senates and princes less; and more ever upon the first entrance of bold persons into action than soon after, for boldness is an ill keeper of promise. Surely as there are mountebanks for the natural body, so are there mountebanks for the politic body men that undertake great cures, and perhaps have been lucky in two or three experiments, but want the grounds of science, and therefore cannot hold out. Nay, you shall see a bold fellow many times do Mahomet's miracle. Mahomet made the people believe that he would call an hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law. The people assembled. Mahomet called the hill to come to him again and again; and when the hill stood still he was never a whit abashed, but said, 'If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.' So these men, when they have promised great matters and failed most shamefully, yet (if they have the perfection of boldness) they will but slight it over, and make a turn, and no more ado. Certainly, to men of great judgment, bold persons are a sport to behold; nay, and to the vulgar also, boldness hath somewhat of the ridiculous. For if absurdity be the subject of laughter, doubt you not but great boldness is seldom without some absurdity. Especially it is a sport to see when a bold fellow is out of countenance, for that puts his face into a most shrunken and wooden posture, as needs it must: for in bashfulness the spirits do a little go and come, but with bold men, upon like occasion, they stand at a stay, like a stale at chess, where it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir. But this last were fitter for a satire than for a serious observation. This is well to be weighed that boldness is ever blind, for it seeth not dangers and inconveniencies; therefore it is ill in counsel, good in execution so that the right use of bold persons is, that they never command in chief, but be seconds, and under the direction of others. For in counsel it is good to see dangers, and in execution not to see them, except they be very great. The following are the most notable passages of the Thirteenth, first published in 1612, and entitled,' Of Goodness, and Goodness of Nature: 'Goodness I call the habit, and goodness of nature the inclination. This of all virtues and dignities of the mind is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin. Goodness answers to the theological virtue, charity, and admits no excess, but error. The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall, the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall; but in charity there is no excess, neither can angel or man come in danger by it...... Errors, indeed, in this virtue of goodness or charity, may be committed. The Italians have an ungracious proverb, Tanto buon che val niente'-So good that he is good for nothing. And one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Macchiavel, had the confidence to put in writing, almost in plain terms, That the Christian faith had given up good men in prey to those that are tyrannical and unjust;',which he spake because indeed there was never law, or sect, or opinion, did so much magnify goodness as the Christian religion doth; therefore to avoid the scandal and the danger both, it is good to take knowledge of the errors of a habit so excellent. Seek the good of other men, but be not in bondage to their faces or fancies, for that is but facility or softness which taketh an honest mind prisoner. Neither give thou Æsop's cock a gem, who would be better pleased and happier if he had a barley-corn. The example of God teacheth the lesson truly: 'He sendeth his rain, and maketh his sun to shine upon the just and the unjust; but he doth not rain wealth nor shine honour and virtues upon men equally. Common benefits are to be communicated with all, but peculiar benefits with choice. And beware how, in making the portraiture, thou breakest the pattern; for Divinity maketh the love of ourselves the pattern-the love of our neighbours but the portraiture. Sell all thou hast and give it to the poor, and follow me.' But sell not all thou hast, except thou come and follow me; that is, except thou hast a vocation, wherein thou mayest do as much good with little means as with great; for otherwise, in feeding the streams thou driest the fountain. The Fourteenth, also contained in the edition of 1612, is entitled 'Of Nobility,' and is very short. We subjoin a few sentences of it: A monarchy, where there is no nobility at all, is ever a pure and absolute tyranny, as that of the Turks; for nobility attempers sovereignty and draws the eyes of the people some what aside from the line royal. . . . . . A great and potent nobility addeth majesty to a monarch, hut diminisheth power, and putteth life and spirit into the people, but presseth their fortune. As for nobility in particular persons, it is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or building not in decay, or to see a fair timber tree sound and perfect; how much more to behold an ancient noble family, which hath stood against the waves and weathers of time! For new nobility is but the act of power, but ancient nobility is the act of time. Those that are first raised to nobility are commonly more virtuous but less innocent than their descendants, for there is rarely any rising but by a commixture of good and evil arts. But it is reason the memory of their virtues remain to their posterity, and their faults die with themselves. The Fifteenth Essay, 'Of Seditions and Troubles,' was first published in 1625, and is of considerable length; but the following are perhaps the portions of it most worthy of note: Concerning the materials of seditions, it is a thing well to be considered; for the surest way to prevent seditions (if the times do bear it) is to take away the matter of them: for if there be fuel prepared, it is hard to tell whence the spark shall come that shall set it on fire. The matter of seditions is of two kinds-much poverty and much discontentment. It is certain, so many overthrown estates, so many votes for troubles. Lucan noteth well the state of Rome before the civil war 4 'Hinc usura vorax, rapidumque in tempore fœnus, Hinc concussa fides, et multis utile bellum.'* This same 'multis utile bellum'† is an assured and infallible sign of a state disposed to seditions and troubles. And if this poverty and broken estate, in the better sort, be joined with a want and necessity in the mean people, the danger is imminent and great, for the rebellions of the belly are the worst. As for discontentments, they are in the politic body like to humours in the natural, which are apt to gather a preternatural heat, *Hence griping avarice, extortion, fraud, and to inflame. And let no prince measure the danger of them by this, whether they be just or unjust; for that were to imagine people to be too reasonable, who do often spurn at their own good; nor yet by this, whether the griefs wherepon they rise be in fact great or small, for they are the most dangerous discontentments where the fear is greater than the feeling. 'Dolendi modus, timendi non item.* Besides, in great oppressions the same things that provoke the patience do withal mate the courage, but in fears it is not so. Neither let any prince or state be secure concerning dicontentments because they have been often or have been long, and yet no peril hath ensued; for as it is true that every vapour or fume doth not turn into a storm, so it is neverthelss true, that storms, though they blow over divers times, yet may fall at last; and as the Spanish proverb noteth well, 'The cord breaketh at the last by the weakest pull.' The part of Epimetheus might well become Prometheus in the case of discontentments, for there is not a better provision against them. Epimetheus, when griefs and evils flew abroad, at last shut the lid and kept Hope in the bottom of the vessel. Certainly the politic and artificial nourishing and entertaining of hopes, and carrying men from hopes to hopes, is one of the best antidotes against the poison of discontentments. And it is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding when it can hold men's hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction; and when it can handle things in such manner as no evil shall appear so peremptory, but that it hath some outlet of hope; which is the less hard to do, because both particular persons and factions are apt enough to flatter themselves, or at least to brave that they believe not. Also the foresight and prevention, that there be no likely or fit head whereunto discontented persons may resort, and under whom they may join, is a known but an excellent point of caution. I understand a fit head to be one that hath greatness and reputation, that hath confidence with the discontented party, and upon whom they turn their eyes, and that is thought discontented in his own particular; which kind of persons are either to be won and reconciled to the state, and that in a fast and true manner, or to be fronted with some other of the same party that may oppose them, and so divide the reputation. Generally the dividing and breaking of all factions and combinations that are adverse to the state, and setting them at dis * There are sounds to grief, but not to fear. |